Rethinking current implentation of "Least Restrictive Environment" and "Inclusion"

Least Restrictive Environment
What is it?
The IDEA act prescribes into law that all US students have the right to a "free and appropriate education" in the "least restrictive environment" (LRE). This law specifies that "to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily" (Sec. 612 (a)[5]).


In short, this law states that special needs students are entitled to be included in a "normal" classroom, through the use of "supplementary aids" to enable them to keep pace with the non-disabled students, if at all possible. Supplementary aids and services vary widely depending on the needs of the child. It can be as simple as having a teacher's aid in the classroom to assist 6 or so students with learning difficulties to having a teacher's aid that is assigned to one student throughout the day in his/her regular education classes. Disabled students also have may access to a Speech, Occupational and/or Physical therapist on a regular basis. Additionally, disabled students are given access to a variety of technology-based assistive devices such as an iPad, iPod, laptop, special software and ergonomic devices, just to name a few.

Who decides what is satisfactory achievement?
In theory, parents, teachers and administrators work in harmony to ensure that disabled students are able to achieve their highest potential, in an environment that best suits their academic, social and emotional needs. In a perfect world, parents are realistic about their child's abilities and are willing to respect the input of those who see the child each day in the "normal classroom setting".

Unfortunately, we all know that perfect worlds don't exist. The truth is that a school has the burden of proving, usually after a series of problems and negative outcomes, that a student belongs outside of the "normal" classroom. While many parents are realistic about the needs of their child and the proper placement for them in the academic setting, some parents defy logic and push for services and placements that are both unrealistic and unfair to the disabled student. This is especially true of children with disorders that leave them academically on level, but socially or emotionally stunted (such as high functioning students with Autism, students with Bi-Polar Disorder, etc). In order to over-rule a parent's wishes, no matter how unrealistic, schools must allow the student to fail, even if multiple experts see the problems impending and advise otherwise, while putting non-disabled students at risk, to have the student placed in a non-traditional classroom.


How does this effect the disabled student?
A wrongly placed disabled student is put under immense stress.Depending on the disability, students suffer from a variety of negative consequences when misplaced into a regular education setting. The following are only a few of the negative impacts inflicted on wrongly placed special needs students

• Loss of self-esteem - I have witnessed complete personality changes in students who are misplaced. As the year goes forward, they can see the difference between their achievement and the achievement of others in the classroom. I have heard students refer to themselves as "stupid", "retarded" or "worthless" simply because they have been placed in an environment where the minimum expectations are beyond their reach.
• Anxiety and duress - A student who is overwhelmed by noises, motion and/or other stimuli can often be placed under extreme duress by the most simple classroom activities. Students who are given separate projects/assignments that accommodate their learning needs often do not understand that they are not responsible for the project given to the rest of the class. 
• Loss of educational opportunity - The most egregious effect of misplaced students is the loss of educational opportunity. While a student is struggling to comprehend objectives that will have no place in their future, they could be learning life skills such as social norms, hygiene, independent living skills, and/or IQ appropriate core academic objectives. 

Even with a teacher's aide dedicated to assisting the student, some disabled students are still unable to cope with the simplest demands of a standard classroom. The noise of a group project can send a student into a dangerous rage. Having a teacher gently redirect a student off task can incite an unforeseen rage, resulting in thrown desks, broken equipment and injured teachers or students. Because of the way the IDEA law is written, teachers are expected to make major changes to their classroom expectations, projects and assignments to accommodate the needs of disabled students, but sometimes, even major changes do not benefit the student.

How does this effect the non-disabled students?

• Students placed in a classroom with a misplaced special needs student are robbed of opportunities and learning experiences. In a classroom, teachers have limited time to meet objectives. When a teacher has a student or student(s) who are misplaced, he or she often spends much of their time trying to address the needs of the misplaced student, taking valuable time from other students. This also limits the amount of reinforcing assignments, as time becomes a pressing issue. Fun and engaging projects are often scrapped because of the misplaced student's potential negative reaction.
• In many cases, students are placed in danger. When disabled students are overwhelmed, frustrated or angry, they can resort to primal reactions to vent their frustrations. These primal reactions can result in harm or injury to students who directly or indirectly inflict the frustration or anger or students around those offenders. Peripheral students can also be injured in the crossfire of such a rage. When students of any ability level are concerned for their safety they do not retain information or focus on learning as they would in a stress-free zone. 
• Non-disabled students are often put in a position of being a peer-counselor to the misplaced disable student. This is a noble and seemingly win-win situation, IF the students are properly trained and supported by adults. Often, because of overcrowding and over a dozen special needs students being grouped into a room in addition to a misplaced special needs student, peer helpers are either not proficient enough to assist displaced students or lack the patience, knowledge and training to deal with a demanding student for whom they are somewhat responsible. This leads to not only the displaced students being further behind, but also placed duress on the peer tutor.

How does this effect the teacher?

• Dedicated teachers suffer great angst when a student is not capable of doing the assignments required to meet core objectives. Either a separate set of lesson plans must be developed to meet the needs of the one student and/or fun, engaging projects must be scrapped in order to avoid upsetting or overwhelming the misplaced students. Teachers have their creativity stifled and are often left feeling overwhelmed by the demands of a misplaced students
• A major concern for many teachers is the lack of training they are given in how to deal with a student with severe emotional or social disabilities. Although most universities include a Special Education course within the Education College, it is often minimal. There is very little, if any, training in how to address the needs of students with Asperger's or a more severe form of Autism. Because of a lack of preparation, teachers often are left to use online literature to find articles about incorporating difficult students within the course. This literature may or may not help the problem.  
• Teachers often become overwhelmed and frustrated with the feeling of being unprepared for a student or being unable to help a student make progress that is meaningful. The frustration also builds when teachers see that non-disabled students are being held back by the demands and attention needed to try to get one disabled student to a level that is often unachievable. 
• Teachers are often not given a voice as to the placement of students within their class. This is especially true of teachers of elective courses. Even when a student is on a diploma tract for Special Needs students, they are still placed into electives courses where the content is not proper for their ability. In my early years of teaching, I had students placed in my computer classes that did not know the alphabet and were not able to speak. One child, who was non-communicative and wasn't even potty trained, was placed in a class whose objectives included creating and manipulating databases and spreadsheets. 

Summary
The problem with LRE is that it takes a major negative outcome to change the placement of a student. In other words, potential danger seen by teachers and counselors must be realized before they are given the opportunity to protect the disabled student, non-disabled students and teachers from impending harm. How is that fair to any party?

The Case for Allowing Social Media in Schools

 
My county has recently become a 1:1 learning community, providing MacBooks to our  9 - 12 graders. We plan to add grades 7 and 8 in the 2013-14 school year.  There were plenty of bumps in the road, but now most teachers on my campus are at least beginning to redefine their lesson plans to integrate technology.

Currently, my school system blocks from student computers ALL Social Media and Video websites as well as most Blogs. The blocking system also picks up key words that insinuate "inappropriate material", which can often be innocuous words or phrases. This is a major problem for innovative teachers, like myself. I have had numerous times where lessons were planned and tested against these blocks only to find new blocks added in the time between my test and implementation within my classroom. To say this is frustrating is an understatement. I am not alone in my quest to include Social Media in the classroom. USA Today covered this topic in this article, dated July, 2011. 

I understand the theory behind the blocks, but would like to make the case against such blocks:

1. Students need direction in properly using Social Media - Social Media creates as many opportunities as it does problems. Most parents have little knowledge of the Digital Footprint their children are creating. Today's students and parents need to be educated on the far-reaching effects of poor decisions on Social Media. Until schools begin to incorporate systematic and in-depth education for both students and parents on the many potential dangers of Social Media, we are not truly educating our students. Incorporating Social Media in the class is the first step in this process. By having academic Social Media accounts that are backed by parent and student contracts of appropriate behavior, schools are taking the lead in teaching students how to harness the power of the Internet and use it for their benefit. Some schools are actually teaching students to "Scrub their Digital Footprint", while others, like Burlington, MA, is taking the lead in educating both students and parents, as is described in this article. You can find many great ideas of implementation plans and rules, but none as interesting and complete as this article.
2. Students are already using Social Media during school via their mobile devices - No matter how hard we try, fighting the use of Social Media via mobile devices during school is a losing battle. Even if teachers are vigilant in their classroom,  there is no way to engage with students and monitor every motion of all 30 plus students in your room. It is also impossible to control postings from the restrooms, during break and in lunch.  If students are already accessing Social Media in the school setting, why not harness that interest for academic purposes, which brings me to the next point...
3. Teachers need to meet students where they are - I have heard too many students refer to the computers as a "waste of money" and as "boring" and "useless". WHAT?!?? I then ask the same students how they use the computer that is fun...and the winner is...yep, Social Media! How engaging would it be to give students the freedom to collect information for a project using their favorite Social Media site? How about creating a mentor program that allows students to correspond with community leaders (NOT Strangers!) via Twitter? Students could have a Twitter chat with other students from around the globe studying common subjects or harness the power of hashtags. The opportunities are engaging and endless, but also blocked!  Lessons using Twitter 
4. Students will not have such blocks in college and beyond - By not training students to manage their use of Social Media (and other digital distractions), we are doing them a disservice. It is much akin to not teaching time-management or collaboration skills. When students move to the next level, either college or career, they are completely unleashed into the Social Media universe and we are not preparing them to manage all that is entailed in that freedom. This point is well developed in this article by Ian Jukes
5. Teachers, coaches and club sponsors already turn to Social Media to get out important information - Social Media is the best, cheapest and most effective for of advertisement for school and athletic events. Almost every club, sport and major function at school is somehow on Social Media. By not incorporating students with the planning and disbursement of these Social Media advertisements, we are missing a huge learning opportunity. As it stands currently, either a teacher or parent has to create the ad OR a student had to create it at home without the direction of a teacher. Social Media can not only serve as a marketing tool for organizations, but also an actual meeting place, as is the case in this Canadian school book club.
6. Social Media is the best mechanism for sharing content with all school stakeholders - One of the best parts of "Open House" for my elementary aged son is showing off his hard work. Once a student hits the teen years, they still want to show you their accomplishments - just not in front of their peers. Posting finished projects to Social Media gives students the ability to show off their work without being embarrassed. It also allows teachers to show the community what exciting projects are being completed in her class. There are a host of ways to use Social Media to communicate, such as those outlined in this article. YouTube allows students to create projects that can be appreciated and viewed by a global or local audience. The most important objective of a publicly shared project is teaching students what is appropriate and inappropriate to post and what personal information is safe to include in your Social Media site. If you are wanting to control the audience of such projects, Vimeo offers video upload sites that can be password protected. Vine, Twitters new video site, offers a multitude of lesson opportunities.
7. Authentic learning opportunities abound with Social Media - When a student knows that his or her work is going to be used for an authentic purpose, the engagement and attention to detail increases exponentially. I have recently created a YouTube channel for our Guidance office. The content on the site has been created by Freshmen in my Multimedia Design class. Instead of creating fake videos for fake events, the students have worked in groups on videos that include directions for registration for each grade level, athletic offerings and guidelines, an overview of current clubs, and, most impressive, a Virtual Tour of the school that integrates a video tour of the school with a 3D Model of both the exterior and interior of the school. Not one person in this project did not participate. The drawback to this project was that, because YouTube is blocked, I had to complete the project by uploading, organizing and tagging their finished products. This was an enormous missed opportunity. While I did show the students the steps that I took to upload, organize and tag the videos, student engagement was minimal.  It was a very sad ending to a wonderful project. Other teachers have used Social Media for authentic learning, as is described in this article.
8. Social Media opens new lines of communication - Students who correspond with educators and administrators in an appropriate Social Media manner are given a new way of sharing problems, warning of impending trouble and reaching out for help in times of crises. Connected educators can also support students' needs through applicable posts without singling out a specific group or person. Schools are also given the opportunity to share information with large groups. Even Marketing firms recognize the potential for communication expansion, as this article, published by Innovative Marketing Resources.com, well explains. 
9. Social Media is everywhere - From QR codes to Facebook; from Twitter to Instagram, you can't turn on the TV, read a magazine or check your mail (both snail mail and email) without seeing a reference to Social Media. Every business and organization is leveraging these free, powerful tools to grab the attention and engagement of customers - why is education choosing a different path?

 For more ideas on using Social Media in the classroom see the following links
A Teacher's Guide to Social Media
The 25 Best Pinterest Boards for Educators
Why Teachers Should Use Twitter
Using Social Media for Real-World Learning
5 Steps to Using Social Media in the Classroom

Getting UP on their level

In the past, teachers were taught to get down on a student's level in order to engage the student in learning. Now, we are being pushed to get up to their level via technology integration. Not only is technology integration a change in the instruction forum, but it is also a complete paradigm shift in how we relate to our students. Gone are the days of "do this because I say so". Students today require more, and that is not a bad thing. 

Each generation has its own personality. In the past, we were grouped in terms of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. These distinctions were based on observations of personality, tenacity and desire. Now, we are divided into Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants1. Our students are Digital Natives. They have never known a life without the Internet, Cell Phones or Email. They communicate via Social Media and web based applications. 

So what does this shift to educational technology mean to teachers...

1. Students know more than us - at least about certain aspects of technology. Instead of looking at this as a problem, treat it as an opportunity. It is widely acknowledged that students learn better from their peers, so having a student teach a lesson on technology that they are familiar with is a win for everyone. It also gives students who struggle socially a place to feel in control. I had a student with Aspberger's Syndrome in my class that not only struggled socially, but also academically. He was, however, gifted with a 3D drawing program called Sketchup. In trying to find an interest to motivate him in my computer class he showed me his drawings...they were amazing! I asked him if he would share them with the class. He was reluctant at first, but once he showed the class what he had created every student was genuinely engaged in learning...learning from a child who was failing other subjects and had very few friends. His mother called me that night to tell me that for the first time in his life he came home excited about school. Engaging students at their level can have miraculous results!
2. Parent communication is easier than ever - Thanks to Social Media, school websites, email and collaborative websites (including Google Sites, Edmodo, Blogger, just to name a few) keeping parents informed of what is going on in your classroom is just a few click away. Whether you are a 1st grade teacher who wants to privately share photos from daily activities via Shutterfly share sites or a high school teacher wishing to publish the projects of a class onto an active site via Webnode, keeping your parents and community informed of all you do is very simple.
3. Higher-order thinking is the new normal - Integrating technology brings with it an organic link to the top of Bloom's taxonomy. Students have to gather research and synthesize information into a product such as a website or a Prezi presentation. Students of all ages are learning how to draw conclusions based on their online research and form their own opinions based on facts gathered through technology mediums. Sharing their findings can be prescribed by the teacher or you can let the students select their own method of sharing, which is another exercise in critical thinking. 
4. You can teach lessons disguised as fun - Thanks to sites like SuperTeacherTools, teachers can engage students in games that are created with the specific lesson plans. Creating a 3D model in Sketchup is a fun and exciting way to teach skills such as measurements, calculations and physics, while grabbing the attention of the most inattentive students. Part of the fun of teaching with technology is hearing students say that we "just played" in class today, when we actually covered an entire Course of Study Objective.
5. You can hide lessons inside of lessons - My favorite part of teaching with technology is that I can teach objectives from two unrelated subjects at the same time. While I am teaching students how to use spreadsheets, I am also teaching them the fundamentals of personal finance. Time value of money calculations that illustrate to students the power of investing young not only gives them a financial lesson, but also teaches them how to use functions in spreadsheets. For elementary students you could teach them how to create a properly formatted letter to a historical figure in a Word Processor. That would touch on three subjects (social studies, computer technology, and English/grammar) and allow them some room for creativity as well.
6. You can address multiple learning styles in one place - Everyone has their own learning style. As educators, we know the importance of teaching students in multiple styles. There are scores of mind-mapping tools to assist with visual learners. Podcasts can be created using a variety of online tools and assist auditory learners in comprehension of subjects.  Kinesthetic learners can be reached using a host of tools. Hands-on simulations are available based on subject area in a variety of websites, usually listed in the teacher materials that are included with your text.

For more details and resources, stay tuned to this blog.

Today's Tech Find - Vizualize.me

Technology Makes You Look Cool! 

Don't believe me? Click on this button. 

 

It is a digital portfolio that makes the resume look like an artifact. The secret is that this work of art did not require much technical knowledge at all...in fact, it is as simple as creating a PowerPoint.

The tool is located at http://vizualize.me/ and links to your LinkedIn account. There are themes to differentiate the visual appearance and additional wizards that let you add information not on your LinkedIn account. 

Once you have linked your LinkedIn account to vizualize.me, you then have all of the following options to add, including a digital portfolio. Whether you are looking for a new job or just looking for respect at your current job, this tool is an easy way to look smart, and cool. And who doesn't like to look cool?

Basic Interface of vizualize.me

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Why Twitter and Facebook could be Good instruction...

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Why Twitter and Facebook could be Good instruction...: Social Media Outposts (Photo credit: the tartanpodcast ) I think Paul Barnwell in his Education Week Teacher Article has some great points. I would like to add the following thoughts on using Social Networking in the classroom...

Good vs. Evil
This blog article makes an amazing point that extends past the use of Social Media in the classroom...just like with any profession a tool is only as good as the way it is used. Case in point - a hammer in a classroom can be used to beat a slow computer into pieces or it can be used to make a shelf to house books in the library. Same tool, different uses and intentions.

Social Media (Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Blogger, etc) has become the preverbal hammer of the 2013 classroom. Most teachers and administrators cringe at the thought of allowing these resources into our classrooms, yet in most cases, they are already in our classrooms thanks to under-the-table smartphone use. 

Our Fear is Paralyzing 
We educators are paralyzed by the same fear that stood in the way of installing the internet into classrooms a decade ago. We are so caught up in the "what ifs" of negative impacts that we are turning a blind eye to the "what ifs" of the amazing and positive impact. 

Fear is human nature. Recently, I began allowing my sons (aged 8 and 11 at the time) to play in our cul-de-sac without sitting outside and watching them, only because I couldn't accomplish all that I needed to do inside while watching their every move. I was terrified that "Chester the Molester" was going to pull up beside them in a windowless van, offering puppies and candy. I could see my elder child falling for the puppy scheme! In preparation of my decision I began giving them detailed "stranger danger" talks. I showed them videos of missing children. I kept an open dialoge about what was appropriate and inappropriate when they were outside. Well, I taught them a bit too well. See, I failed to mention that not all men in windowless vans are evil...more specifically, men in Fed Ex vans with Fed Ex uniforms delivering a box of recently purchased bed linens. When this poor, unsuspecting Fed Ex delivery man asked my 11 year old for help with the oddly large, but light package, my 8 year old stepped in front of the 11 year old, yelled "STRANGER DANGER" to the top of his lungs and physically pulled the 11 year old into the garage...and closed the garage...on the Fed Ex man. The package was left in the middle of the driveway and I am pretty sure this poor man was as rattled as the kids were. I was, oddly, proud of the 8 year old, because I would rather he err on the side of caution. Now, I should point out that not two weeks later my 11 year old came running home to ask if he could go in the van of the neighbors yard man and look at puppies...you can guess my answer (but he did ask).

What was the point of that trip down Malpas family memory lane...fear can keep us from doing what we need to get done and if we take proper precautions, we can alleviate the risk (ie my 8 year old chasing away the Fed Ex man...who he later said looked "sketchy"). By preparing our students for the tools we give them and addressing not only the technical aspects of the tools, but the social consequences of the tools, we are preparing them for the real world.

Prepare, Engage and Empower
Fear is the friend of mediocrity - our kids deserve more than a mediocre educational experience. We are afraid that our students will do something to harm themselves, others or our reputations. We are afraid that we will get a call from a parent upset that little Johnny was taught how to use Social Media. We are afraid that we are creating more work for ourselves and our administrators. The truth is, if implemented correctly and in conjunction with our school feeder patterns, we are simplifying our jobs and creating a group of students who are collaborative communicators - skills in demand in our current workplace.

Am I saying that we should allow all students unfettered access to Facebook, with no parameters of appropriate use? NO! Every school with an internet has or should have an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Creating comprehensive AUPs with specific consequences for violations and consistently enforcing these policies are the most critical and difficult components to the succes of any digital program, including the use of Social Media in classrooms. When the AUP places the same consequence on playing Solitaire during class as downloading inappropriate materials, a great injustice is done to both offenders. So how do I think Social Media can be successfully added to the classroom? The answer is much less about Social Media and more about the climate created within a 1:1 or BYOD school.

1. AUPs must be given great detail and must address the multiple levels of violations with concise consequences that match the level of the violation.  
2. Students must be educated with more than a 10 minute presentation of the AUP before signing and returning the form (with or without parental signature). Students in a digital environment need to be deeply educated over a period of days, in a consistent, meaningful and explicit way by multiple educators. The education of students must be ongoing as technology is continually offering more opportunities/threats for students.
3. Teachers must be educated on the potential for danger brought about by the online tools available (not only Social Media, but also the variety of multimedia and collaborative tools available online). This education must be specific, intentional, and ongoing. It must also involve two-way dialogs that empower teachers to express, without fear of retribution or judgement, their honest thoughts, needs, fears, observations and gripes. This can easily be accomplished by ANONYMOUS surveys.  
4. Teachers must be continually educated and supported on the potential for excellence brought about by online tools. Spend the most time supporting the teachers that are not digital natives. Use resources like webcast, videocasts and collaboration groups to find out what needs are not being met...and then devise a way to meet those needs. Teachers who feel supported and empowered perform leaps and bounds above those who feel overwhelmed and lost. 
5. Get input from the stakeholders of the school(s) on a regular bases to see how the effect of the implementation of the technology is being seen. Parents and community leaders are great resources of how we are preparing our students for the "real world"...because they are living in the "real world"

The End Result

Once we have a system in place to address the dangers, fears, learning needs and obstacles of Social Media in the classroom, we have opened up a learning tool that has exponential learning power. These tools are the very essence of what Learning 2.0 is about - collaboration, communication, networking, feedback, and real world connections. 

Have students create a Facebook group to collaborate for solutions to their Problem Based Learning project. Allow students to tweet a question related to a PBL and gather information from Twitter followers from around the globe. Use LinkedIn to create a group of students who wish to gain entrance to a particular University and teach them how to find professors and administrators of that University within LinkedIn to join their group. The possibilities are ENDLESS!

Welcome to TWT

Yes, I am referring to my blog as TWT, not because I am too lazy to write out the complete name, but because I am a teacher and acronyms are part of the soul of a teacher. Think about it, how many acronyms are we given each year? PBL, SAT, ACT, CTE, the list goes on...Now that I think about it TWT sounds awful close to twit, maybe that is appropriate???

So, now that I have explained my acronym, let me explain the purpose of this blog. Well, purposes of this blog. As a business teacher, I love bulleted and numbered list - they really to help you cut to the important things so, here is my list...

1. Share and discuss educational trends - as any educator knows, there are more trends in education than there is on the New York runway. I am hoping to find the important and useful trends and get a meaningful discussion on the meaning, uses and implementation of the good trends. For the bad trends, well, we will also discuss them and how we can turn lemons into lemonade!
2. Share and discuss emerging technology and software - we live in a world of exponential technological growth. As educators, we have enough on our plate without having to sort through which technologies are useful, available (there is nothing like preparing a great new website for use only to find out that it is BLOCKED on the student side of the server), and cost effective (mostly that means free, but thanks to the world of Apple Apps, there are many useful tools under $5).
3. Share and discuss classroom techniques that work - the terms Project Based Learning and Problem Based Learning (or PBL...for both...aren't acronyms great) are the latest, greatest classroom techniques. As someone who has implemented PBLs into my class lesson plans for over a decade, I know that there are ways to make the use of PBL more effective and efficient. Given the definitive data that has proven that PBL works and works well when properly implemented, we must embrace this idea and support one another in our quest to make PBL a reality.
4. Convince technologically challenged educators that technology is our friend - it is ironic that we are constantly asking our students to adapt to our way of teaching - what corner of the paper to write their name, what style of writing is acceptable, how to turn in homework, how to ask to go to the bathroom, ect - yet many educators resent being asked to adapt to the world around them. I hope to convince all teachers that not only is technology not our enemy - it is our new best friend. Most technologically challenged teachers are incredibly smart, incredibly good at educating kids, yet scared of technology. Fear no more - I hope that you will learn that we are in this together and there are easy ways to become tech savvy. The truth is you don't have to be a tech nerd to look like one! The good news is that though technology is not perfect, it is MUCH easier than the tools we have used in the past. As with everything in life, you must believe to achieve!
5. Find and share engaging lesson plans for all subjects - I love curriculum and I love finding and developing lesson plans. There are an abundance of resources that have great lesson plans with integrated technology. Even for the tech challenged, these lesson plan resources are a great and easy way to look like a rock star!

Notice that the word "share" was mentioned in each item. I want feedback. I want to know the good, the bad and the ugly about what I am posting. I LOVE a good, healthy debate - a debate where opposing opinions are posted without personal attacks or unprofessional conduct. This blog is for ALL teachers. The larger our network, the more we can accomplish.